1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector with a front retainer for doubly locking terminal fittings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-102576 discloses a known connector with a front retainer that has a housing with a plurality of cavities into which terminal fittings are insertable. A front retainer is mountable into a mount space formed in the housing. Cavity towers form front parts of the respective cavities and project independently of each other from the back end of the mount space in the housing. Each cavity of the housing has a resilient lock that is engageable with the terminal fitting. The front retainer enters deformation spaces for the locks to prevent the locks from being resiliently deformed in a direction disengaging from the terminal fittings.
The above-described connector, however, has no construction for supporting the respective cavity towers. A pulling force may act backward on the terminal fitting, for example, when a wire connected with the rear end of the terminal fitting is pulled before the retainer is mounted at a proper position. Thus, the terminal fitting may be inclined while remaining engaged with the lock, and may resiliently deform the cavity tower. A large deformation of cavity tower could displace the terminal fitting sufficiently to disengage from the lock. This causes a less reliable locking of the terminal fittings.
The invention was developed in view of the above problem and an object thereof is to provide a connector with more reliable terminal fitting locking.